EDITORIAL: 'DEEP THROAT' IS A PATRIOT
Give Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein their due. For more than 30 years, they honored their promise to keep secret the identity of "Deep Throat," the confidential source who was privy to information about the June 17, 1972, burglary (and attempted cover-up) of the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel .
Ref. https://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C...38332%2C00.html
I think its really cool to be watching history unfold. Deep throat is finally revealed, but the reporters kept their word. I wonder if reporters have that kind of integrity now days? I believe it was Choni Chung that told Newt Gingriches mom that she wouldn't tell if she said what he thought of Hilary Clinton then broadcasted it. There actions showed that it is possible for reports to be honest and have integrity.
I can remember when the Watergate scandal was first broken. I was in high school at the time and this was the most exciting thing to have happen. For me when I heard that Deep Throat was an FBI agent I was thrilled. Thank God we had people like him around who didn't let anything stand in his way of getting the truth out to the people. Without him Nixon would more than likely have gotten away with his crimes. I say that he was indeed an American Hero.
International Level: New Activist / Political Participation: 11 1.1%
While I agree that Nixon was very wrong in what he did, trying to cover up for some employees, I think that this agent was also very wrong in what he did. He broke a trust. He broke the law. He interfered with an ongoing investigation.
Because of his actions, there was an extraordinary change in power in the government. Nixon had done a lot of very good things, including pulling the US out of Vietnam. However, because of the way he was deposed, there was nobody with the courage and ability to keep some sort of balance. I believe that the rise of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and the fall of Saigon could have been stopped, or at least reduced in severity if there had been a normal, clean transfer of power.
As far as Mr. Felt being a patriot or a hero, that is a slap in the face to all real patriots and heroes. He knew that what he had done was wrong, that is why he hid it for so long. It took the efforts of his children and grandchildren (along with a reportedly hefty fee) for him to come out in public.
Would you consider someone a hero if he had leaked to the press that John F. Kennedy was compromised by the mob? Yet this was true, and a MUCH more serious problem than anything to do with Nixon. Is Ken Starr considered a hero for performing his job as an independent investigator of Bill Clinton, who proved that Bill Clinton lied under oath, thus denying a US citizen a fair trial?
Not likely. The only reason people consider Mr. Felt a hero is because he helped bring down Nixon - a man who was roundly hated by the US media along with the Left because he exposed Alger Hiss to be a REAL traitor.
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 854 85.4%
After 'Deep Throat,' what mysteries remain?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Now that "Deep Throat" has been identified as a 91-year-old California grandfather, aficionados of unsolved mysteries have to look elsewhere. Luckily for them, there are plenty of places to look.
Even after Tuesday's revelation that former FBI No. 2 Mark Felt was the Watergate super-source "Deep Throat," there are still unknowns swirling around the scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon in 1974.
The main question remaining is what information was contained -- and erased -- in the 18 1/2 minute gap in a White House tape recording. The tape, made by Nixon's secretary, Rose Mary Woods, contained a discussion between the president and his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, pertaining to Watergate.
Ref. https://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story...88.htm&sc=reodd